exhausted

I have worked every day this week except for Tuesday.  I know, cry me a river, but two of those days I was roused from my deep sleep before 6:30 AM and asked to come in.  I feel totally run ragged.  I really like subbing, but it's hard work.  You have to be on your toes all day.  My toes are tired.  Even though I get home at 3:00, if I didn't get enough sleep the night before I'm typically pretty useless the rest of the day.

Example: Wednesday afternoon Brian wants to go exploring on a new trail that he discovered online.  The weather is gorgeous so I'm happy to go, although I whine about having to go anywhere new (I know- I don't know how he puts up with me!)  We walk around, I complain that I think our car is going to fall down the mountain, and that there is too much construction and not enough pretty on the trail.  We have fun though, despite my whining.  The trail is a steep gravel road and after a while we turn around and come back down.  Close the bottom I take a tumble.  Humpty-Dumpty style.  It was not cute, and neither were my skinned hands and knees.  See what I mean?

Source: etsy.com via Kate on Pinterest

Today Brian and I are racing out the door as soon as I get home from school to go visit our families.  I am so excited!  I am in desperate need of some R&R and home is just the place to be!  I'm looking forward to a weekend full of catching up, a baby shower, and belated birthday dinners.

Happy Friday!

my birthday

Thanks for all the birthday love yesterday!  One of the funnest things about your birthday is all of the well wishes from people: texts, Facebook, blog comments, cards... I just loved hearing from everyone!  The mail has been especially fun to check the last couple of days.

Yesterday I drove to Charlottesville and had lunch with my mom.  The weather was gorgeous and we ate outside at the Virginian (home to some of my favorite mac and cheese!)  We walked around the corner and went to the art supply store, where I bought some green acrylic paint, some red and turquoise ink, and a disposable paint pallet.  We walked back and went to Starbucks where we got birthday cake pops (amAzing!) and salted caramel mocha FRAPPUCCINOS (yes, the weather was that gorgeous) and sat on a bench around the Rotunda.  I can't stress enough how pretty it was.  And although I didn't take any pictures don't worry because...

Source: angelmint81.tumblr.com via Angel on Pinterest

I GOT A CAMERA!!!!!!  EEEEEEEE!!!!  I have to confess, I knew it was coming.  After my research and obsessing Brian kind of had to use my knowledge to order it.  But I didn't know it had arrived and when I got home from my day trip Brian lured me away from the computer with a cute little chocolate cake with a candle in it, and then presented me with the cutest little wrapped present.  It was my camera and I was SO excited!  Brian keeps making fun of me because I had previously told him that him getting me this camera would be like me getting him a puppy, which he insists is not the same.  I think he underestimated how enthusiastic I was.

He also got me The Lion King on blue ray and DVD since in a complete act of serendipity it was released on my actual birthday.  So of course I spent the afternoon painting in front of the TV.  What better way to spend your birthday?

Last night we went to one of our favorite local pizza places and played trivia with friends.  I had a slice of buffalo chicken pizza and a BIG beer.  Seriously, it was like a bucket.  I had to get a straw.  The food was delicious and we had lots of fun, and then we came home and did what we always do.  Eat dessert and watch Cheers on Netflix.  Except this time it was better because my mom had sent me home with one of her pound cakes, which is amazing.

I have to say, 23 was pretty great birthday.  Here's to hoping the rest of the year is just as lovely!

the weekend

Brian and I had a cloudy, lazy weekend.  The temperature here dropped considerably and all we wanted to do was lay around.  We made dinner in the crock pot both days, caught up on TV, and snuggled up and watched The Prestige on Saturday night.  I hadn't seen it since it came out in theaters, and it is so good!  Especially since I only remembered about 25% of the movie.

Remember when I said I was subbing on Friday?  Well, when I got to school I found out that we were going on a field trip.  Surprise!  It was so much fun.  I spent the day petting and feeding exotic animals with first graders (thing I learned for the day: camels are aggressive.)  It was nuts.

{this was only the reaction of some of the children} Source: 16house.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

What are your plans for this week?  I have a few days of work lined up, but I'm taking the day off for my birthday tomorrow and meeting my mom for lunch in Charlottesville.  I can't decide where to go!  Too many choices.  I'm hoping to make a pit stop at my favorite art supply store while I'm there to pick up a few things.

Have a happy start to your week!

Friday morning snippets

Wow!  That last two days have been so exciting for my blog.  I love meeting new bloggers and the response I got on Wednesday was awesome.

I'm subbing for a first grade teacher today.  I'm sporting my new watch, which came in the mail Wednesday afternoon (yippee!)  It's not the color I expected... it's definitely more periwinkle.  But it's a bright happy color that doesn't clash with all of the shades of pink I wear, and that was mostly what I was going for.

I'm still rereading Harry Potter.  I started the 5th a few weeks before the wedding because I missed reading and wanted something familiar; I just didn't have the brain capacity for anything new.  I took a long break in between the 6th and 7th.  I'm woefully behind on my goal to read 12 books this year on Goodreads.  Not happening.

Source: weheartit.com via Kate on Pinterest

Today is the last day of September.  Can you believe it?  I'm always a fan of October (my birthday is on Tuesday... how can you not love your birthday month?)  I just feel like time is going by so quickly.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Birthday Recap

Yesterday was my birthday, so this last weekend was my self-proclaimed Birthday Weekend. It was a good birthday. My expectations were significantly lower because 1) 21 is a tough act to follow and 2) this is the first birthday that I haven't seen Brian (and hopefully my last!) since my 16th birthday.

Wow, writing that made me feel older than anything else I've done today. I'm gonna need a second to collect myself.

Moving on: it actually was nice because I got to spend the weekend celebrating with Brian, the day of celebrating with friends, and then this next weekend celebrating with family. I'm all for elongating the birthday celebrations.

Brian came up to visit on Friday afternoon. We decided not to go out at all which was sooooo nice. I felt so relaxed and well-rested. On Friday we went downtown to see some of the art exhibits and eat dinner. We ate at this fancy Italian restaurant. It was really cute, we ate outside and got to watch everyone walk around downtown. It was a crisp fall evening, the food was yummy, and the company was the best.

Brian also gave me my birthday presents on Friday, which is always exciting. Among other things, this is what Brian got me this year

{TOMS, Navy Canvas Classics}

I know I'm a dork, but there's something about that cute animal lining that made me fall in love with these. Plus, they're super comfy. I was really excited to get them!

Saturday we opted out of going to the game in favor of being lazy. We ran errands... which we regretted. They are doing construction on our Wal-Mart, and that combined with some of the weirdos we ran into resulted into us rushing our trip. Oh well.

The weather was beautiful and come four o'clock we were bored of doing nothing. So we called up my bro and decided to take a road trip to visit him! It was fun to see him and it's a pretty nice drive. We briefly visited some of the parks that we are studying in one of my classes, ate Chipotle, and then saw The Social Network (adoring post to come.)

Sunday we grabbed lunch at Panera, and then it was time for my first day at work! It was sad to say goodbye to Brian, but I'll be seeing him this weekend. I'm enjoying my job so far, although I've been pretty exhausted afterward.

Yesterday I had class and then went to work. The weather decided to be beautiful, which was a nice surprise. I got to squeeze in a run before dinner. For dinner I met some of my friends at Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was so fun! My friends gave me a lot cute/ funny things, including but not limited to cards, photo-collages, balloons with airplane bottles of liquor tied to them (seriously, great idea!), and random Disney Princess themed objects. It was pretty perfect. I was pretty happy whilst sipping on a margarita surrounded by my loves. It was a good night. Plus, I had a ton of Funfetti cupcakes to come home to, which was pretty awesome.

And the birthday fun continued to today! My aunt sent me this cookbook:

Yum! I can't wait to read through it!

I can't wait to go home this weekend and see my family. It'll be the perfect end to my birthday week.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so awesome! Love.

BEST WEEK EVER

Whoa. This is a sweet week. Let's start from the very beginning.

THURSDAY

Dad came to Charlottesville for the U2 Concert. They delivered, as usual. This was my third U2 show, and my first stadium show. It was AMAZING. Their stage was so cool. They played great stuff... overall it was awesome.

FRIDAY

I woke up at 3:45 in the morning to be at the bus at 4:30. We switched buses in DC and got onto the Chinatown to Chinatown bus. I slept most of the way, so it was pretty painless.
We got to New York around 12:45 and walked with all of our luggage to our hotel in the financial district. We stayed in the Hotel Reserve, a nice little hotel on Nassau Street. After we checked in, we left in search of food. On the way, we found a guy selling scarves for $3. That was pretty cool. We found a pizza place about a block away. After we ate, we went exploring. We walked down Fulton Street to Pier 17. We saw the water and the Brooklyn Bridge. We were tired but excited, and it was fun to walk around.

When we got back to the hotel, we had a little bit of time to rest before embarking on our first NY Subway experience to Columbus Circle to meet our critic. It went smoothly, for the most part. When we got there, we had a few minutes to run in to Central Park, climb on some rocks, and take pictures. There was this really sweet playground that we got to run through. It was really neat- I wish we had had more time to spend there.

When our critic got there we got a short tour of Columbus Circle and headed over to the office of Williams and Tchien, the designers of the Folk Art Museum, and got a tour of their office and some background on the building. Then we headed over there and got a tour of the museum. It was really cool. Afterward we headed over to the MoMA next door. I wish I wasn't asleep on my feet for this museum- but I still got some stuff out of it. There was a Monet exhibit of his water lillies. The paintings each took up an entire wall- it was awesome.

Despite our exhaustion, our group decided to walk the blocks to Times Square and to try to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Times Square at night is always amazing. It has so much energy. When we got to Hard Rock we had to wait, but in the end it was worth it. The food was really good and surprisingly inexpensive. Plus, it was a neat restaurant, and we had a good time.

After dinner some of us caught a second wind and decided to take up our critic on his offer to join him on the roof of his hotel with some of his old friends and colleagues. When we got there, there were people getting out of fancy cars wearing suits and cocktail dresses- we were wearing the clothes we drove to New York in. He managed to get us in despite our casual attire. It was crazy upstairs- it was raining a little but the party was still hopping. Turns out there was some fashion show that had gone on earlier. Anyway, we got an amazing view from the roof and we felt really, really cool being at that party. It was definitely an experience.

SATURDAY

Our studio got up and grabbed breakfast (and coffee) at Dunkin Donuts near our hotel. Then we hopped on the Subway to Canal Street where we were scheduled to meet our critic for a walking tour of Soho. We passed all of the street vendors with their bags and scarves. Then we headed down Broadway for our walking tour. It was really cool. I loved the cast iron buildings of Soho and all of the cool stores that occupied them. We wound our way back to our site on the corner of Greene and Prince street. There, we took pictures and sketched, and explored the surrounding buildings. Adjacent to the site is the Apple Store, located in an old post office building. Then we went to the Prada Store, just down the street. That was one of my favorite buildings we went into. I got yelled at for taking pictures- but it was worth it.

We broke for lunch and a group of us went to Kelly and Ping's on Greene Street for some good Thai food. By the time we left, it had started to rain. That was a major bummer. We ducked into the Apple Store, and were dismissed to explore the city as we liked. I had my rain coat, but I bought an umbrella for $5 for good measure. It poured. It was miserable. Our group frantically brainstormed for some indoor activity. Finally, we agreed to head to the Guggenheim to wait out the rain. By the time we got off the subway it had slowed drastically. We went in anyways, but we decided not to pay and go up into the museum. As architecture students, we had really seen the most important part anyway.

By this time I was on my mission. What I mean is that I was deep in my search for Wicked tickets. My most ardent New York desire was to see Wicked on Broadway, and I spent a good portion of Saturday on the phone, trying to find tickets. I had my dad on the phone at home trying to see what the options were on the internet. Let's just say it was a very frustrating process.

We went sightseeing for the rest of the afternoon, stopping at a church next to the Guggenheim, the lake at Central Park, the steps of the Met, and we even walked through a Czech Republic Independence Day festival. Finally, we got on the subway around 6:00 and went back to our hotel. It was at this time that I finally ordered my Wicked tickets. It took about an hour of calling to get the right tickets (right meaning most affordable) but I did it. I was to pick them up the next day at a restaurant near Times Square.

For dinner that night we went to Pacific Grill at Pier 17. It was pretty being on the water. One of the kids from my studio told the waiter it was my birthday, so I got a free mini cheesecake with chocolate drizzled on the plate, and everyone sang to me. It was fun. There was salsa dancing in another part of the restaurant, so a lot of my studio did that afterward. That was amusing. Then we headed home. At midnight, everyone sang Happy Birthday to me, and I went out with three other kids from my studio. We took the subway to Times Square (during which one of my friends made the announcement to everyone on the subway that it was my 21st birthday, haha) and coincidentally met up with some other kids from school. Times Square has been mostly cut off from vehicle traffic, so we basically got to sit at these tables and chairs in the middle of Times Square at 1:00 in the morning. Observation: a lot of people have their kids out and about sightseeing at 1:00 in them morning. Weird. Anyway, eventually we made our way to a bar (the bouncer told me I was cutting it kind of close. Isn't that the point?) and my studio friends bought me a drink. It was tons of fun and something I'll always remember.

SUNDAY (my birthday!)

My friend Julie and I made our way to Soho around 10:30 after grabbing Dunkin Donuts again. We went into this Children's Art Museum and the Scholastic Store. Both were really cool. Then we met up with two other girls from our studio at the site, and took some more pictures and sketched some more. Then we made our way to Canal Street. Canal Street is really a crazy experience. There are so many people running up to you asking you to buy stuff, the term "hawking their wares" has never been so appropriate. It was fun to look at all the bags, scarves, watches, and perfumes. I bought some perfume (which I have opened and loooove).

The girls I was with were hungry and I was scheduled to pick up my Wicked tickets at 2:00 at Tony Di Napoli restaurant near Times Square. We headed in that direction and my group picked a Belgian restaurant on the same street as Tony Di Napoli. When I went in, the tickets weren't there. I started to freak a little. I called the ticket company, and the guy remembered who I was and assured me that the tickets would be there soon. I ran back and forth between the two restaurants, in time to order and eat this really good croque monsieur sandwich (basically Belgian grilled cheese). Finally, I got the tickets around 2:20. I clutched them so hard that I had a cramp in my hand after the 8 block walk to the Gershwin Theater. All that was left was to wait for Peggy to get there, and I was set. She arrived about 15 minutes after me, 10 minutes before the show. I bought the soundtrack and the program as a souvenir as we walked in. I started grinning as we sat in our seats and I don't think I stopped the entire show. It was amazing! Definitely the highlight of my trip. Everything about it was incredible: the set, the music, the cast... I just loved it. Totally worth the sweat, blood, and tears I put into getting the tickets. "Defying Gravity" right before intermission was definitely my favorite part of the show.

After the show, I took the subway to the meatpacking district (all by myself with no issues- I was very proud) and walked a few blocks to the High Line, a park that in on an abandoned elevated railroad track. I wish I would have had more time to spend there, but I got there just in time to be in our studio picture before we all headed to dinner.

We went to dinner at this really cute place called Vento. The food was good and fairly inexpensive. I got sang to (again) and got this really delicious dessert involving caramel ice cream and chocolate mousse. Yum.


After dinner, a group of us went to the Standard Biergarten, a restaurant under the Standard, a hotel on the High Line. It was beautiful. There were long tables with candles on them and these pretty lanterns hanging over them. It was outdoors but the cover of the High Line. One of the guys in our studio noticed a celebrity sitting near us- Michelle Trachtenburg (from Gossip Girl) was sitting right behind us. I don't watch the show, but it was still pretty funny to have her sitting so close to us.

MONDAY

We had to check out early because we went to a Diller and Scofidio lecture (designers of the High Line). So we packed up everything and dragged it around NYC with us the whole morning. I was so tired by the end. We ate at this cute place called the Sugar Cafe, and departed New York around 1:30. We arrived in DC at 6:00, grabbed dinner at Potbelly, and left for C'Ville around 6:40. We got home around 9:30. My roomies made me a cake and gave me lots of Disney oriented gifs. It was a nice way to arrive home : )

TUESDAY

I slept until noon and got my hair cut. That's about it.

Wednesday

Easily the worst day of this week. I accidently slept through my only class (oops!) and then was at A-School until about 4:00 getting my work together to turn in.

THURSDAY

Brian is coming!!! Yay : ) The perfect way to end this lonnnnnngggg post.